WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW

Edit 0 26 …

1. WHAT DO WE NEED TO MEASURE?? -- AIR!

- AIR MOVEMENT: DIRECTION and SPEED

- AIR TEMPERATURE

2. HOW CAN WE DO THIS? -- INSTRUMENTS!

- AIR (wind) SPEED: "ANEMOMETER"
- AIR (wind) DIRECTION "WIND DIRECTION VANE"
- AIR TEMPERATURE "THERMOMETER"

3. HOW DO THESE INSTRUMENTS WORK??

-- ELECTRICITY.

BECAUSE: We want them to be "Automatic", and "read by a computer".

Learn a little about ELECTRICITY here:

4. HOW CAN WE GET A COMPUTER TO READ THEM?? (INTERFACING)

==
We need to be able to "Read" (Meaning get back data electronically) the following things (So Far):

  1. ANEMOMETER: We need to count how many times the anemometer output goes from Zero to One. (Each rotation, it goes twice from zero to one and back to zero.) This means we need a DIGITAL INPUT to a computer.
  2. WIND DIRECTION VANE: We need to measure the VOLTAGE put out by the Wind Direction Vane as it moves to point into the wind. The voltage will vary between 0.0 and 5.0 Volts. This means we need an ANALOG INPUT to a computer.
  3. THERMOMETER(s): We will use '1-wire' thermometers which send and receive digital data as a series of ONES and ZEROS. This means we need both a DIGITAL INPUT and OUTPUT to our computer.

Most Desktop Computers don't have DIGITAL INPUTS or ANALOG INPUTS we can use.

We will use a MicroController , which is a very small computer on one chip, that can read electronic data from sensors very well. The MicroController will communicate to a desktop computer through a Serial Port

INTERFACING is a subject of it's own, and we have a page for it (Click HERE)